Leftover Rice Casserole

Casserole de Riz Réchauffé

Doesn’t that sound fancy and complicated? Ooh la la! Réchauffé! Anything translated into French via Google is bound to sound exotic and will definitely be an accurate translation, no?

The truth is that we’re talkin’ Leftover Rice Casserole here. A humble yet delicious way to disguise, er I mean use up the bits and bites in the fridge near the end of the week.

Leftover Rice Casserole

Leftover rice casserole is an immensely forgiving dish. You can use whatever leftover protein you have on hand, as long as it is already cooked. Ground beef, chicken, tofu, and chickpeas are all good choices. It’s the same for the veggies. If you have some leftover in the fridge use them. I love the bright green of fresh broccoli, and I often have it on hand so that’s what I specified in this recipe.

This recipe uses a bechamel as the base for the sauce. Don’t be intimidated by making it though. It really isn’t complicated, it just involves being attentive for around 10 minutes. And it is so, so, so, so, so much better than pouring in cream-of-chemical soup.

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Add the onion and stir. Cook for 3 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the optional garlic and cook for another minute or so, being careful not to let the garlic burn.

Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes, until the mixture is golden and bubbly.

Add all of the liquid while you whisk like crazy. (The resulting mixture should be smooth. If it’s not, surreptitiously get out your immersion blender and get to it. No one will be the wiser. This is the one I use*, not that I ~~ever~~ have lumpy white sauce!)

Allow the sauce to come to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly.

Reduce the heat to medium low and stir until it has thickened, which will take just a couple of minutes.

Add the cheese and stir until it’s melted.

Try really hard not to drink the sauce at this point.

Dump the rice, chicken, and broccoli into the casserole dish. Pour the sauce over and pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes. No need to cover it.

Let it cool off a bit or be prepared to have all of your taste buds pop like bubble wrap.

Confession – I did not take this picture. I can’t photograph a casserole for crap. photo by Lynn Gardner / CC BY

What do you think of this leftover rice casserole? Do you have a similar recipe? What changes or substitutions would you make to this? Let me know in the comments or tweet me!